SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Zoo has welcomed six white rhinos from South Africa.
The six female southern white rhinos are part of the zoo’s efforts to save the critically endangered northern white rhino. There are just four northern white rhinos left in the world.
The zoo said Friday that the six southern white rhinos will act as surrogate mothers. They’ll be implanted with northern white rhino embryos in hopes of saving the subspecies, which has been decimated by poachers.
Researchers are hoping a northern white rhino calf could be born from a surrogate within 10 to 15 years.
The six southern white rhinos arrived to the zoo Thursday after a 22-hour flight from Johannesburg. They were transported in individual crates and unloaded into fenced yards for a 30-day quarantine.
Comments